This has been a great year for Android, especially in this country. We’ve seen Carriers pick up some major exclusives that have paved the way for the continual evolution of devices that we’ll see in 2011. We asked you on Twitter and Facebook for your input and put together a list of the top 5 devices launched in Australia this year, which you can find after the break.
Number #5
Sony Ericsson Xperia X10
You guys voted on the Xperia X10 as the 5th best phone that made its way into Australia this year. It was launched in late March and averaged $59 on a cap. Powered by a 1GHz CPU, it was the first 4″ Android device to hit the market and also the first device to hit every Carrier in the country. Being Sony Ericsson’s flag-ship device for 2010, I can’t wait to see what they have in store for us in 2011.
Number #4
HTC Desire HD
The HTC Desire HD may only have been launched recently, but it appears to have had a massive effect on you guys, with a heap of you saying that this was the best device in 2010. This beast comes with a huge screen measuring 4.3″ across, brings a whole new version of Sense UI to the table, making other manufacturers rethink the way their UIs should be put together. It was also the first time Vodafone picked up an exclusive on such a major device. The Desire HD brought a new iPhone 4 competitor to the market. Good work HTC!
Number #3
Samsung Galaxy S
With its 4″ Super AMOLED display, the Galaxy S stood out worldwide, launching in over 110 countries at once. Optus had the Australian exclusive for two months before it made its way to Three, Vodafone & Telstra. TouchWiz may feel like an iPhone clone but it makes it easy to use for Android ‘newbies’. This lead to it being a massive hit here, and it still is!
Number #2
Google Nexus One
The Google Nexus One may have been the number 1 Android device worldwide, but that was not the case here in Australia. There were only ever 1,000 stocked by Vodafone-meaning that hype was kept low and there was no other way to get one other than to buy from an online retailer (like our friends at MobiCity). Although it’s been somewhat replaced by the Nexus S, there will always be a place in our hearts for the revolutionary Nexus One. It brought us Android 2.1, and with all the development love it has garnered it remains a front-runner for new versions of Android, including Gingerbread.
i bought a Desire HD a couple weeks ago and have been sorely disappointed with the battery. The rest of the phone is fantastic but a mobile that lasts half a day with below average usage and almost all features turned off is a waste of time. id only recommend buying this if your always near your charger.
I bought Desire from Bangkok 6 month ago for what equal to 600$ , and very happy with it specially with the internet surfing & multimedia, the two cons I guess are the battery life and the camera quality(5MP) but those thing in most of smart phones so i can live with that , Desire HD looks nice but screen is so big and i like the phone more handy.
p.s.I’m with optus in prepaid turbo plan 30$ month 500MB data but not sure if that the best value or I should go for plan? .. any advice?
HUGE fan of the Samsung Galaxy S. Awesome phone that has everything. Shame about the delayed firmware upgrade! I’d really love the TAB but looking at the Galaxy S, and not experienced the TAB, I find it hard to justify getting one. Google itslef needs to be congratulated – Android Kicks A$$. Well done.
lol, why is X10 up there?
i voted Nexus One, if it was marketed better, it could have been so much more.
It’s up there because people like it apparently.
What does it say about consumers that a phone with a rubbish battery makes it to number one spot?
Why should HTC or any other manufacturer even bother to try and lift their game?
What device should be number one? I personally think the battery life is comparable to any other smartphone.
It may be but that makes them ALL unacceptable products in my opinion. How can the manufacturers make such massive strides in computing technology within the phone and yet not produce suitable power cells to drive them? These phones are called ‘mobiles’ and yet some of them will not last a day of moderate to intense use; what is the point of that? I can’t help feeling that consumers are being taken for a ride. Look at the massive fuss that was made of iphone 4’s antenna problems; Apple is clearly working on a fix. Who is trying to bring… Read more »
It sounds to me you are trying to make the case that the Iphone4 should somehow be the top device in a android top devices list…
The fact is the statement ‘all android devices are unacceptable’ in an android top devices list is absurd.
Unfortunately I can’t leave a reply to your follow up message, so it’s getting attached to this on. I agree completely with the fact that it seems unacceptable that the battery life is abysmal – I came from a smart phone where I was getting anywhere between 3 and 5 days with reasonable usage. I now get 1… Where I think that you are missing the point is that it’s not the phone manufacturers who develop these technologies, they simply implement them. They can tweak the software to be more efficient and use more efficient hardware, but you can’t beat… Read more »
Thank you, Digi79. I think you’ve grasped the gist of my post. Gee Man, I am not asserting that an iphone should be top of the list (boy, are you Android fans sensitive!), I am looking at the bigger picture and find the performance, or lack of it, unacceptable. I have been delaying getting a smartphone for months and months now as I often forget putting a phone on a charger and don’t want to have to do it EVERY night; my current phone goes 5/6 days! Before Buzz initially reviewed the Desire, I was all set to go and… Read more »
I think your overstating the battery life concerns, also I’m not sensitive I just don’t like ridiculous notion that Android devices can’t be ranked in a top 5 list…
Congratulations to the winner.. They ought to be congratulated.. : )
I think you’re right, Paris 😉
Quite a fair list IMO. If only optus was serious in marketing milestone. It has the potential as it was a nice device, especially for the one who love physical keypad.
Writing this on my HTC Desire, that I’ve owned and loved since April.
But my vote goes to Nexus One. It was THE revolutionary device of 2010, and practically defined Android smartphone and its development this year.
In general I do agree with this list though.
Also special mention to Huawei IDEOS. An Android phone which redefined the meaning of budget phone this year.
Hmm, sorry Buzz. I’ve done yet another epic ‘off-topic’ post 😉
This price argument doesn’t make sense to me. Consider two high end android devices, one a phone, the other a tablet: Desire HD $749 http://www.mobicity.com.au/htc-desire-hd.html Galaxy Tab $829 http://www.mobicity.com.au/samsung-galaxy-tab.html The high end android phone has plenty of competition from other similarly equipped phones in it’s category. This serves to keep the prices as low as possible. A phone can do great for calling and taking photos or videos and fit into your pocket easily. The high end tablet has no competiton as there are no other high end tablets on the market. As other companies eventually get a high end… Read more »
I can tell you that my galaxy s that previously did everything now does hardly anything. 6 months ago I was saying the same thing! I couldn’t see why I would need a tablet. But it really is a case of using it day to day and then you wonder how you ever managed on a 3 or 4 in screen. A 7in device is SOOOOOOO much easier for browsing, email, games, apps of any kind!
Happy with the results. When bang for buck is considered I think the list is in the right order.
The Galaxy Tab, whilst I love the device, let’s itself down heavily due to the heavy pricetag. Expect it to be swallowed up by much cheaper and more feature laden tabs in the the first half of 2011.
I think the Galaxy Tab is too expensive to make the cut…. for a phone I am willing to fork out the money for because I know I’ll be using the phone every single day.. $800+ for a tablet I may only use for casual internet surfing, youtube/video or ebook reading etc. I am yet to be convinced..
#justsayin (don’t take it to heart, I’m really just jealous because I don’t have one :P)
I voted for the Tab about an hour ago on twitter bit must have been too late. It is the most awesome device I’ve ever owned. Once you replace the browser with dolphin hd, update flash 10.1 and configure spare parts so all apps scale to fullscreen there is really nothing more to want from a device, well, maybe just a super amoled screen 😉
What kind of average user is going to do that? The experience needs to be at that level out of the box. I don’t think Samsung invested very heavily in the Galaxy Tab, compared to the experience of using an iPad. 7″ form factor is also just like using a big phone.
What kind of average user installs and configures apps or changes to a different browser? Millions of average users do that! How many windows machines have firefox? How many iPads have skyfire? Do you remember skyfire’s servers going into meltdown? Millions of average users read an untold number of blogs online just like this one. Why? Because people are looking for help with their gadgets! I don’t accept the presumption that average users are so ignorant that they don’t know how to google for help with their tech. Give people a bit more credit man! I challenge anyone reading this… Read more »
You could almost combine the Nexus one and HTC Desire as the same phone (yes I know one has hard buttons and one has soft buttons with a trackball.. but very similar devices) Seems top heavy for these two devices to get 1 & 2 spots. Although that said I personally don’t know of an another phone to fill the empty spot, as the only other phone I have used/can recommend is the Desire HD, but with this phone only being released for such a short time ago its hard to say if its earned its 4th spot. (And it… Read more »
Buzz where’s the Samsung Galaxy Tab? I’d put that in front of X10 🙂
I would vote it as Number 1, but apparently no-one on FB or Twitter thought the same.
I love it but I’m waiting for LG’s tablet to be released 😉